Cycloptichorn wrote:Well, I am busy contributing to our economy at the moment and haven't had time to respond.
Fine, I will wait for a full accounting.
Quote:But I take contention with your claim that the averages matter more than the trends/at all. That's bullsh*t. If Bush hadn't inherited a lowered poverty rate from Clinton, his averages would suck... the fact is that the amount of people lowered during Clinton's term, significantly, whereas it has risen under Bush's. The poverty level has risen at the same time as the amount of rich have risen under Bush, an undeniable fact.
According to your graph, I will agree with your point about the trend. You have a valid argument, but I simply pointed out there are other things besides trends, such as overall average. Maybe you need to consider that as well? But bottom line, I am skeptical of the graph until I see the data that it came from.
Quote:There is no reason to believe that tax cuts weren't taken into account, so why would I? The census bureau is based upon self-reporting data, so why wouldn't those people who reported themselves take this into account themselves? Makes no sense.
The numbers are based upon census bureau data, as you would see if you looked at the graph itself.
Cycloptichorn
There are lots of reasons to doubt the tax cuts were not considered. I know someone that made 22,000, so according to income statistics, the Census Bureau would have that figure, but unless you can prove it, I doubt seriously the Census Bureau includes the thousands of dollars they received as a refund over and above what they even paid in, which would push their income to 24 or 25,000. If they did, great, but why would you automatically assume they would? The people are likely not going to report that. They are going to be asked, how much do you make per month or whatever, and they will get that information. Which brings up another thing, how reliable are self-reported incomes to the Census Bureau? Not very, in my opinion. You have alot more confidence in the graph than I do.